WINSTON-SALEM - In a game probably deemed unfit for viewing by football purists, one man decided he not only wanted to be the difference-maker in the game, but also preserve the game's artistry and grace. In the end, he made Duke's first ACC win in almost three years a thing of beauty.
Richmond Flowers' final statistical line-nine catches for 78 yards-does not even come close to capturing the magnitude of his impact on the game. Neither did Wake Forest coach Jim Caldwell when he mentioned that Flowers had a "heck of a game."
Indeed, to really understand how much Flowers meant to the Blue Devils' 19-16 victory Saturday, you'd have to talk to the guy who had the best seat in the house for Flowers' performance-quarterback Bobby Campbell.
"Richmond Flowers came up with a lot of big catches," Campbell said. "That is one of the greatest receiving performances I've ever seen, just the tough catches he made. There were some balls that were a little off, he just came down with them."
No one would know better than Campbell, who threw the ball in Flowers' direction 10 times and saw him come down with eight of them. Flowers hauled in every accurate toss from Campbell and made several acrobatic catches on balls that appeared to be certain incompletions.
On Duke's lone touchdown drive of the game, Campbell found Flowers five times for 37 yards, including a 15-yard reception that set the Blue Devils up with a 1st and 10 at the Wake 15 and a touchdown grab that dazzled most onlookers, including the man who threw the pass.
"He came off his route and just improvised, and got open and made an incredible catch," Campbell said. "I had guys around me, I just tried to lob it there because there was nobody around him, and it went a little wider than I expected. For him to come down with it, that was impressive."
Impressive may be understating it. On a third and goal from the eight yard line, Flowers lined up split wide left. Immediately after the snap, the Demon Deacon cornerback came forward and jammed Flowers' initial route.
Flowers then fought off the coverage and slashed toward the end zone. Campbell spotted Flowers with some daylight behind him and fired a bullet in Flowers' general vicinity. The pass led him too far, but Flowers dove and snared the pass with his body parallel to the ground.
"If you can't get open on the right route, you have to come back to the ball," Flowers said. "Bobby moved around and did a great job of finding me. I'm a receiver, my job is to catch the ball. I try to do that by any means possible, regardless of anything that's around me."
But Flowers is more than just a receiver. Flowers and fellow receiver Scottie Montgomery form potentially one of the most dangerous kickoff return tandems in the ACC. Montgomery had returns of 46 and 39 yards, and Flowers could not have picked a better time for his longest return of the year.
After Matthew Burdick's 37-yard field goal tied the game at 16, Flowers took the ensuing kickoff at the four yard line and galloped down the right sideline untouched before being pushed out of bounds by a Demon Deacon at the Duke 45. The return gave Duke excellent field position to work from before driving for the go-ahead score, and Flowers wasn't nearly done working his magic.
Campbell split the defense with a 24-yard strike down the middle of the field to tight end Terrence Dupree, putting Duke in field goal range at the Wake 31. The Wake defense, however, stuffed B.J. Hill for a three-yard loss on the next play and threatened to put Duke out of field goal range. When a screen pass to Hill lost another yard on second down, the Duke drive appeared stalled and kicker Sims Lenhardt began preparations for a 53-yard field goal attempt.
On third and 14, Flowers lined up split right, ran his route past the first down marker, turned and cut toward the sideline. Campbell lofted the ball toward Flowers, and again, Flowers made a leaping, jaw-dropping grab to give Duke a first down at the Wake Forest 18.
"I knew they were going to run the route, and I even cheated to the outside," said Wake cornerback Adrian Duncan, who covered Flowers on the play. "But when I moved back, he stepped on my foot. When I went to move, and he moved, I fell down.
"It's an excuse, but it's what happened. But I still should have made the play."
And unlike the Wake secondary, Flowers made every play he was supposed to and even some plays he wasn't. And in a three-point game, that was all the difference the Blue Devils needed to erase three years of frustration.
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